Gonna Mess Around this Town: Gardner's Basin

I had been waiting ALL WEEK to go check out my Uncle Austin's band, The Good Doctor, play at Gardner's Basin.  By Friday I was jumping out of my skin -- mom said there would be guitars, drums, even horns!  They rocked it out at Scales Grill & Deck Bar, which is right on the water so we could check out all of the boats and um, a bar, so mom and dad could get their happy hour on.  We heart The Good Doctor and can't wait to see them play again (I'm particularly jealous that Uncle Aus gets to play "in bare feetsies.").

There were also lots of "cute little" shops dotted around Gardner's Basin that mom kept trying to chase us out of because they contained lots of "cute little" breakable things.  But, it looked like a good place to pick up some unique crafty presents, if that's your thing.  There are a few other restaurants in the basin, including Gilchrist (which is an AC legendary breakfast joint) and the Back Bay Ale House (which also had outdoor seating and an outdoor bar), but we hit up the little ice cream shop for a GIANT kiddie cone -- cookies and cream with rainbow sprinkles (OK, rainbow jimmies.  We were in New Jersey).

On the only rainy day we had we also headed back to the basin to hit up the Atlantic City Aquarium.  Now this really shouldn't be called an aquarium -- it's really more like a slightly different version of that scary cat lady's house - just with fish (and birds?).  But you can check out some cool tidal organisms up close, dip your fingers into several "touch pools," and feed some really extroverted sting rays.  And we took another walk around the marina where I told an unsuspecting family that "no, that motor boat is not mine.  But, the green sailboat is."  We even went back to Scales' Grill for lunch and no one minded that we tore that place up a second time.  They have a decent kids' menu and outdoor seating where no one minds buttered pasta being flung about.  AND we hit up the ice cream shop again -- I had a second C&C and Cam had a birthday cake cone with rainbow jimmies.  YUM.

Our Uncle Austin and The Good Doctor.

Jammin' out.

The AC Aquarium